The idea here is that if you ask for their advice, they’re going to think you’re pretty smart. They’re going to be interested in you. As a result down the road, they’ll be more than willing to support your project financially. They’ll want to invest in you because they’ll like you.

On the other hand, if you ask for money up front, most people won’t want to give it to you. Why should they? They don’t really trust you… yet. Instead, they’ll probably give you some advice. Now that seems like a cop out, but really they’re just trying to see how serious you are. They want to know that you’re smart enough to take their advice and use it.

So either way, you can get what you need if you know how to not ask for it.